Editing Decimation (punishment) (section)

===17th century===
Von Sparr's [[cuirassier]] regiment in [[Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim]]'s corps fled the field during the 1632 [[Battle of Lützen (1632)|Battle of Lützen]] of the [[Thirty Years' War]]. The imperial commander, [[Albrecht von Wallenstein|Wallenstein]], appointed a court martial, which directed the execution of the officer in command, Colonel Hagen, together with Lt Col Hofkirchen, ten other officers and five troopers. They were beheaded with the sword, while two men found guilty of looting the baggage were sentenced to a less honourable death, by [[hanging]]. The remaining troopers were decimated, one in every ten cavalrymen being hanged; the others were assembled beneath the gallows, beaten, branded and declared outlaws. Their standards were burned by an executioner after the emperor's monogram had been cut from the fabric.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brnardic |first=Vladmir |title=Imperial armies of the Thirty Years' War |volume=2, Cavalry |url={{google books |id=2dqGAQAACAAJ |plainurl=y}} |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-84603-997-3 |page=8}}</ref>

{{cn span |text=Similarly, during the [[Battle of Breitenfeld (1642)]], near [[Leipzig]], Colonel Madlo's cavalry regiment was the first that fled without striking a blow. This was followed by the massive flight of other cavalry units, an early turning point in the battle. It ended in a decisive victory for the Swedish Army under the command of Field Marshal [[Lennart Torstenson]] over an [[Imperial Army (Holy Roman Empire)|Imperial Army]] under [[Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria]] and his deputy [[Ottavio Piccolomini]], Duke of Amalfi. |date=March 2025}}

{{cn span |text=Leopold Wilhelm assembled a court-martial in [[Prague]] which sentenced the Madlo regiment to exemplary punishment. Six regiments, which had distinguished themselves in the battle, were assembled fully armed, and surrounded Madlo's regiment, which was severely rebuked for its cowardice and misconduct, and ordered to lay down its arms at the feet of General Piccolomini. When they had obeyed this command, their ensigns (flags) were torn in pieces; and the general, having mentioned the causes of their degradation, and erased the regiment from the register of the imperial troops, pronounced the sentence that had been agreed upon in the council of war, condemning the colonel, captains and lieutenants to be beheaded, the ensigns (junior officers) to be hanged, the soldiers to be decimated and the survivors to be driven in disgrace out of the army. |date=March 2025}}

{{cn span |text=Ninety men (chosen by rolling dice) were executed at [[Rokycany]], in western [[Bohemia]], now in the Czech Republic, on December 14, 1642 by Jan Mydlář (junior), the son of [[Jan Mydlář]], the famous executioner from Prague. On the first day of the execution, the regiment's cords{{clarify|date=June 2016}} were broken by the executioner. On the second day, officers were beheaded and selected men hanged on the trees on the road from Rokycany to Litohlavy. Another version says that the soldiers were shot, and their bodies hanged from the trees. Their mass grave is said to be on the Black Mound in Rokycany, which commemorates the decimation to this day. |date=March 2025}}